Serendipity {Complete}

Chapter 14 - Veer

Head pillowed over his crossed arms, Veer stares at the ceiling, listening to Miraya inhale and exhale.

She lay on her side with her back to him. He could hear her struggling to relax and even out her breathing. Her shoulders shudder imperceptibly at irregular intervals.

He figures the timeline for the panic attack to peak is almost over if the incident in the jeep earlier today is any indication of how it occurs for her. Had her breathing gotten worse, the attack would have set in.

But he is still prepared, listening intently.

The urge to slide over to her and spoon her is both alien and incessant.

What the fuck was it about this woman that was making him behave like a love-sick fool? He wasn't someone who handed out his time or attention so impulsively. Or craved physical contact so acutely.

He wanted to fuck her, and he also wanted to comfort her. Ravage her till she begs him for mercy, and maim anyone who hurts her.

Miraya's breathing eventually deepens. He glances over at her and is relieved to see her shoulders finally relax.

Two attacks in one day could not have been good for her. He wonders how she manages the anxiety back in her own world. It leads him to think about how her bus journey here must have been. No wonder she did not want to go back on the bus. Not that hitching a ride had turned out to be any safer for her.

The thought of what she must have been through and his own role in it nags at him.

She really should not have come here alone.

He should concentrate on sleeping as well, but he's too wired, his mind churning, his body working through the adrenaline spike, and his hands aching from unfulfilled violence. The vicious need to break Jaggi's bones still coursed through his blood.

When he had rounded the corner of the corridor and caught Miraya stumbling backward, away from Jaggi, his temper had detonated at warp speed. No build-up.

Zero-to-one-fucking-thousand.

It has to be the heat. Or something in the fucking air. He would have been upset even if it had been another woman. But would he have gone beyond slapping the guy around? He knew he'd torn something in Jaggi's arm; he'd felt that splinter of tissue shredding.

The ferocity of his own murderous intent had snapped him back to deliberate restraint.

To develop such strong and downright irrational feelings in the span of a few hours has to be madness. What else would explain his fierce attraction and the ruthlessness he caved in to?

When had he ever held a woman down?

Never.

When had he ever become so frenzied with lust that her pleading with him would drive him to torment her?

Okay, fucking never. Point made.

The mess of this entire day was the result of his decision to come back. He had no right to punish her for that.

He'd hurt her. Physically and repeatedly with his stupid words. It seems he had a penchant for sticking his giant foot in his mouth when it came to her. He'd seen the flash of hurt in her luminous eyes and had not liked it at all.

His mind ran in circles, picking apart the last few hours. He'd never been attracted to an older woman before. He had never sought them either. His little mishuk did not behave like an older woman, not that he knew how exactly an older woman should behave.

Maybe more confident? Not so shy.

But he liked her little nervous antics. The lip-biting, fiddling with her shirt, the stuttering, big cinnamon eyes flicking everywhere, then latching on to his as if she couldn't look away. He really, really liked that.